Key concepts to consider when promoting active transportation
Authors: Petteri Muukkonen
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2023)

Carmen Jochem and Michael Leitzmann1Jochem C Leitzmann M A call for integrating active transportation into physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines.Lancet Planetary Health. 2023; 7: e112-e113Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar highlighted the importance of promoting active transportation in physical activity guidelines to improve public health and planetary hewalth. In addition to public health guidelines, active transportation has several concepts that should be pursued in parallel. The first concept is multimodality in transportation, which means that people use multiple modes of transportation during a trip, such as walking, cycling, public transportation, with shared mobility services such as bike sharing or car sharing, or other modes for different parts of their trip. Therefore, there is the need to create integrated and interconnected transportation systems that encourage individuals to incorporate physical activity into their daily routines while also reducing their reliance on motorised transportation. The second concept is walkability and cyclability, which refers to the quality of the walking or cycling environment and its ability to support and encourage active transportation.2Wang H Yang Y Neighbourhood walkability: a review and bibliometric analysis.Cities. 2019; 93: 43-61Crossref Scopus (81) Google Scholar This includes creating an attractive and safe environment for pedestrians and cyclists, ensuring good pavement quality and accessibility for those with mobility challenges, providing well lit paths, and avoiding unwanted exposures, such as noise and air pollution. The third concept is individuals' capabilities and opportunities to access and use active transportation modes (ie, accessibility). Accessibility consists of several dimensions, including social, economic, skills-related, physical, temporal, spatial, informational, legal-organisational, mental, and cultural dimensions.3Virmasalo I Hasanen E Defining the accessibility of physical activity: tracing the social dimension.Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti. 2022; 2: 59-76Crossref Google Scholar The fourth concept is the need for cooperation and interdisciplinary approaches among various sectors.4Muukkonen P Ehnström E Hasanen E et al.Towards equality in physical activity—tools for a multisectoral and interdisciplinary approach in sport planning (in Finnish). University of Helsinki, Helsinki2022Google Scholar One should bring together transportation, urban planning, public health, and other relevant sectors to create integrated and comprehensive approaches to active transportation planning. In summary, improving physical activity guidelines as suggested by Jochem and Leitzmann1Jochem C Leitzmann M A call for integrating active transportation into physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines.Lancet Planetary Health. 2023; 7: e112-e113Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar is one among a suit of potential solutions. Incorporating the concepts introduced here into transportation planning can provide safe and accessible environments for active transportation, which create better local opportunities for people to include active transportation in their daily routines. PM received funding from the Lähiöohjelma 2020–2022, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Environment, Finland (grant number VN/10837/2020). A call for integrating active transportation into physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelinesAt the 27th Climate Change Conference of the Parties, António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, declared that "we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator".1 This highway leads not only to climate change but also to additional planetary crises, such as pollution and loss of biodiversity, which pose a dire threat to our planet and to the health of current and future generations.2–4 Full-Text PDF Open Access